Growth factor-mediated proliferative signals are transmitted from the extracellular environment to the nucleus through several pathways, including the RAS/RAF/MEK pathway. The RAS/RAF/MEK kinase signal transduction pathway is activated through initial extracellular binding and stimulation of tyrosine receptor kinases (RTKs) by their respective cognate ligands. Upon autophosphorylation of specific tyrosine residues in the cytosolic domain of RTKs, the Grb2-Sos complex translocates to the plasma membrane, and converts the inactive RAS•GDP to active RAS•GTP. The interaction between the Grb2 docking protein and the activated kinases or the phosphorylated receptor associated proteins is mediated by the Src Homology (SH2) domain of the signaling protein that recognizes specific phosphotyrosine sequences. RAS undergoes a conformational change upon guanosine 5′-triphosphate (GTP) binding and causes the recruitment of RAF-1 to the cytoplasmic membrane where it is phosphorylated by several kinases and simultaneous disphosphorylated at key residues by protein phosphatase-2B. Activated RAF phosphorylates the mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MEK) on two serine residues in the activation loop, which results in the activation of this protein kinase. MEK then phosphorylates and activates extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), allowing its translocation to the nucleus where it phosphorylates transcriptional factors permitting the expression of a variety of genes.
The RAS/RAF/MEK signal transduction pathway is deregulated, often through mutations that result in ectopic protein activation, in roughly ⅓ of human cancers. This deregulation in turn results in a wide array of cellular changes that are integral to the etiology and maintenance of a cancerous phenotype including, but not limited to, the promotion of proliferation and evasion of apoptosis (Dhillon et al., Oncogene, 2007, 26: 3279-3290). Accordingly, the development of small molecule inhibitors of key members of the RAS/RAF/MEK signal transduction pathway has been the subject of intense effort within the pharmaceutical industry and oncology community.
MEK is a major protein in the RAS/RAF/MEK pathway, which signals toward cell proliferation and survival, and frequently activated in tumors that have mutations in the RAS or RAF oncogenes or in growth receptor tyrosine kinases. MEK is a key player in the RAS/RAF/MEK pathway as it is downstream of RAS and RAF. Despite being only rarely mutated in cancer (Murugan et al., Cell Cycle, 2009, 8: 2122-2124; Sasaki et al., J. Thorac. Oncol., 2010, 5: 597-600), inhibitors of the MEK1 and MEK2 proteins have also been targeted for small molecule inhibition owing to their central position within the RAS/RAF/MEK signal transduction pathway signaling cascade (Fremin and Meloche, J. Hematol. Oncol., 2010, 3:8). Recently a potent MEK inhibitor failed to demonstrate efficacy in clinical trials in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (Haura et al., Clin. Cancer Res., 2010, 16: 2450-2457). The reason for failure in this trial is not clear.
6-(4-Bromo-2-fluorophenylamino)-7-fluoro-3-methyl-3H-benzoimidazole-5-carboxylic acid (2-hydroxyethyoxy)-amide (hereinafter, “Compound A”) is a benzimidazole compound that is a known potent and selective inhibitor of the MEK1 and MEK2 proteins, and useful in the treatment of hyperproliferative diseases, particularly cancer, in mammals. For example, in a recently published Phase I study of 28 patients suffering from unresectable, locally advanced or metastatic biliary cancer and who had received ≦1 prior systemic therapy, oral Compound A treatment (60 mg twice daily) resulted in 1 complete regression, 1 partial regression and 11 stable disease diagnoses after at least 6 weeks of treatment (Finn et al., J. Clin. Oncol. 30, 2012 (Supplement 4, 2012 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, Abstract No. 220). Compound A has also been demonstrated to be effective in the treatment of patients with either BRAFV600 or NRAS-mutant melanoma (Ascierto et al., J. Clin. Oncol. 30, 2012 (Supplement, 2012 ASCO Annual Meeting, Abstract No. 8511).
The compound, as well as a process for its preparation, is disclosed in PCT Pub. No. WO 03/077914. The manufacturing process for preparing Compound A is described in Example 18 of this document. The manufacturing process described therein are, although suitable, regarded as disadvantageous for commercial production.
Due to the high potency of this benzimidazole compound, in particular as MEK inhibitor, there is a need for improved manufacturing methods of such compounds. In particular, there is a need to provide processes that fulfill one or more of the following criteria: scalable, safer, simpler, higher yielding and more economical when compared to known processes.
There also remains a need for new solid forms for the treatment of cancer.
The present invention is directed to an improved process for the production of Compound A that is suitable for small scale or large scale manufacture, and useful intermediates thereof. The present invention is further directed to a process for the production of crystallized Compound A as well as a new pharmaceutical composition suitable for administration of this crystallized compound. It has been surprisingly discovered that crystallized Compound A prepared according to the inventive processes has an improved purity profile and an improved physical morphology which is advantageous in pharmaceutical drug development and manufacture.